


let me write you a happy ending

by sapphiredusk



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Actually all members appear in this, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mystery/Suspense, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-05 11:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12793686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphiredusk/pseuds/sapphiredusk
Summary: If Baekhyun wanted to live, then Yixing damn wellmadeit happen.





	let me write you a happy ending

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt#175. Hope it didn't deviate too far from what the prompter wanted haha. Mods, thank you for organising this round! Please enjoy ♥

Some days Yixing didn’t know what to do with himself. Those were the same days he lurked in the corridors, and tried not to peek in on that man and his brand new wife visiting. He had to physically restrain himself from even going near Baekhyun’s room – Who knew what poison the old man was feeding his Baekhyunnie, about how Zhang Yixing was no good for Byun Baekhyun, probably.

 

“Ugh, let me tell you, that man is a real piece of work.” Yixing gestured angrily at no one in particular.

 

“What did he do this time?” Kyungsoo was nodding again, but for some reason it felt like he was pacifying him rather than believing him.

 

“Soo, he’s the worst! Whenever he visits I can’t be there,” Yixing sighed loudly in frustration, “I just don’t _get_ what his problem is. Where does he get his _fucking_ sense of superiority from?”

 

“Probably from his age,” Kyungsoo mused.

 

“Age? _Age_?” Yixing laughed. “Yeah for a fifty year old man he sure acts like a five year old. Afraid of everything, thinks of nobody but himself, not his wife and new baby whom he _claims_ is his world, not his son who is his _blood_ , thinks the whole world revolves around him. Yeah _right_.”

 

Kyungsoo frowned and patted him on the shoulder solemnly.

 

“And everytime he visits with that stupid wife of his Baekhyun gets so depressed afterwards. That man can’t even spare a tiny bit of his heart to think for Baekhyun! I don’t dare to hope that he’ll be the most loving father in the world but couldn’t he stay away if he doesn’t know what to do? It’s the least he could do, instead of hurting Baekhyun over and over again like this!”

 

“But _Hyung_ , he is Baekhyun’s father. You can’t keep him away.”

 

“Yeah but he shouldn’t make me go out when he comes! What if he says something wrong that agitates Baekhyun and it sets his heart wrong or something?” Yixing fumed, punching the visitor lounge sofa a few times for good measure.

 

“Look, if you’re that worried,  I could go and listen in on their conversation and watch over Baekhyun for you, Hyung. I’ll call you immediately if there’s anything,” Kyungsoo offered and looked him in the eye earnestly.

 

Yixing held that stare for a moment before he sighed and looked away.

 

“I appreciate it, Soo.”

 

“It would be no trouble really.”

 

“I promised Baekhyun to give them their privacy, though.”

 

Yixing’s eyes softened and he reached to envelop Kyungsoo in his arms.

 

“You’re a really good kid, anyone tell you that, Soo?”

 

“You do only everytime, Hyung.”

 

-/\\-

 

“The old man left this?” Yixing reached for the red amulet hanging off the corner of the bed, a curious expression on his face.

 

Baekhyun made a scoffing noise, “To ward off evil spirits when it gets dark or something.”

 

The slender hand stopped mere inches from the amulet.

 

“Guess I’d better not disturb it then,” Yixing remarked lightly.

 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

 

“Don’t take him too seriously. Would that he do something useful for once…are you staying with me tonight?”

 

“Why, afraid of the evil spirits, Hyunnie?”

 

Baekhyun wrinkled his nose.

 

“Won’t you stay tonight, _Hyuuuuuung_?”

 

Yixing pretended to think about it, before reaching to tap that cute nose, “Alright then, since you asked so nicely.”

 

-/\\-

 

_“It’s mine. You **thief**.”_

_“Why did you murder me? I did you no wrong.”_

_“Why?”_

There were so many hands grabbing at him, tearing at his shoulders, his arms, his legs, tightening around his neck, trying to pull him down. Baekhyun struggled to fend them off, because even though he could not see it, he knew that if he succumbed, the abyss awaited him. There was blood, blood everywhere—how could there be so much _blood_.

**_“Why!”_ **

_“Give my life back. Give it back. Give it **back**! Why is my life worth less than yours? Huh.”_

_“You have to **pay the price**. You owe me.”_

Baekhyun grunted, hands going up to his neck unconsciously as his air supply constricted drastically. He twisted in the blankets, sweat beading on his brow as he struggled in vain to get the tiniest bit of air into his lungs.

 

The machines monitoring his vitals sounded an alarm.

 

“Let go…let go…it isn’t me…”

 

The pressure on his neck vanished abruptly.

 

“Mr. Byun, can you hear me? Mr. Byun?”

 

Baekhyun gulped in large amounts of air gratefully, reaching up a trembling hand to hold the oxygen mask in place. The nurse who addressed him adjusted something in his drip and nodded encouragingly at him.

 

Neither of them noticed the long tail swishing around the corner of the doorway before vanishing from sight.

 

The white cat padded softly down the hallway, unnoticed and unbothered by the fuss of a busy hospital. Once he reached a considerable distance away from the room, he quickly spat out whatever was in his mouth and regarded the red thing on the ground with disdainful eyes.

 

_Humans._

 

-/\\-

 

After his episode the previous night, Baekhyun had awoken to find Yixing nowhere in sight. Come morning, however, he had woken up to Yixing cuddled to his side, and had not mentioned the nightmare since.

 

No reason to add on his load, he reasoned. Even now, Yixing seemed distracted, and frowning about something. Baekhyun watched him for a while, before reaching up to poke Yixing’s cheek, where his dimple would show when he smiled.

 

Yixing blinked and drew back, startled.

 

“Still mooning after your Doctor Kim?” Baekhyun teased, eyes shining with mirth as he regarded his friend.

 

“He’s not _my_ Doctor Kim!” Yixing protested, sputtering, “That was just that _one_ time I said he was good looking and…Anyway his name is Junmyeon. He told you to call him Junmyeon, Hyunnie. Stop calling him Doctor Kim! It sounds so lewd, the way you say it.”

 

“Yeah yeah _Junmyeon_ ,” Baekhyun grinned, eyebrows waggling suggestively, “what’s he going to call you then, _Lay-ie_? _M_ _y adorable Lay-ieeeeee_ …”

 

“Oh shush, you child,” Yixing pulled a face and said solemnly, “What’d you know, hmphhhhhhh.”

 

“Oh, but I know _lots_.”

 

The two boys met gazes for the briefest instant and the silence held for a moment before they burst out simultaneously in laughter.

 

“ _Lay-ie!_ Goodness gracious me, _Lay-ie,_ that was the best you could come up with, Hyunnie?”

 

Yixing straightened, grinning as he leaned over to kiss Baekhyun on the forehead, “You foolish _foolish_ child.”

 

Baekhyun leaned back on the pillows, his gaze gentling.

 

“Well, it made you laugh didn’t it, Lay- _Hyungie_.”

 

He reached out and hooked his finger around Yixing’s little finger, his eyes soft and distant.

 

“Honestly though, I think Nurse Kim is a better catch.”

 

“Nurse Kim? The one with the pretty mouth turned up at the corners, like a cat’s?”

 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun had a wistful expression, “he’s always smiling, you know? Always full of warmth. He’d take care of you.”

 

“Hyunnie-” Yixing frowned, “Baekhyun, listen to me.”

 

Baekhyun’s finger abruptly tightened around Yixing’s.

 

“Hyung-” Baekhyun breathed, eyes wide, “ _Hyung.”_

 

“What’s wrong? Is it hurting? Your chest? Hyunnie-”

 

 _“Hyung, I-”_ Baekhyun choked, _“I-”_

 

An alarm sounded. Yixing’s eyes snapped to the heart monitor, tracking the red, flashing numbers and the erratic waves with raw, unadulterated panic.

 

“ _Baekhyun!”_

 

Baekhyun’s eyes were closed.

 

The doctors and nurses swept into the room like they were born for this ( _they probably were, they deal with life and death every day, every moment, Yixing thought bitterly)_ , instantly filling up the room and snapping orders left and right.

 

It was some new face, some young doctor who was leading them, but Nurse Kim was there, quickly and efficiently lowering the bed head and removing pillows and swiftly arranging the small, still figure flat for their work.

 

“ _No pulse.”_

 

Yixing could see Baekhyun’s bare chest from where he was standing at the side, pale, thin, unmoving. Not breathing.

 

Then gloved hands were clasped on his chest, pushing, pushing, _pushing_ -

 

_“Clear!”_

 

It was sickening, seeing the body on the bed lurch, just the briefest of twitches from the passing of electricity through that fragile form.

 

“ _Still nothing! Push another unit of epi.”_

 

Except it wasn’t just any body, any dead thing lying on the bed wasn’t it. Yixing’s eyes alighted on the white, familiar face, and the grotesque transparent tube that had been shoved down the pale throat. The precious face that just minutes ago was smiling, joking with him was now devoid of life, upturned as they sought to find the best position to allow access of assisted oxygen to his unyielding body.

 

 _Hyunnie’s going to moan about his throat burning later and evil nurses not giving him water,_ the thought taunted him somewhere at the back of his mind.

 

They were compressing his chest again, pumping him full of medicine and well-intentioned wishes.

 

Baekhyun lay on the bed like a trapped butterfly specimen, pinned by its pretty, broken wings, unable to fly free.

 

_It’ll never be able to fly._

 

Yixing slipped out of the room silently, unwilling to bear witness to this macabre business yet another time.

 

“Hey.” There was a man, dressed in a most ridiculous suit, leaning against the door frame – _what character was that? Hyunnie told him last week with the new movie and whatnot_ – smiling at him with a great deal of friendliness and interest.

 

His smile turned sheepish as Yixing’s gaze wandered up and down the man’s appearance in question.

 

“Ah that’s–I kind of overslept and didn’t have time to change out of my party clothes before work so…it’s Deadpool by the way. In case you were wondering.” He scratched his head awkwardly, his prominent ears flushing slightly at the ensuing silence.

 

_“Still no pulse. How many minutes has it been?”_

 

“That’s your friend in there?”

 

“This is the wrong room.” Yixing interrupted, staring straight into the man’s dark, glittering eyes, “You’re in the wrong place. You’ll be looking to do your work further down the corridor.”

 

_“Clear!”_

 

“Really? Name’s Chanyeol by the way.”

 

“Yes, I’m sure.” If one didn’t look at Yixing too closely, they wouldn’t notice that he had gripped the hem of his shirt tightly in order to mask the unmistakable shake in his fingers.

 

Chanyeol shrugged.

 

“Guess I’ll be on my way then. Sure you don’t want to come along? No? Alright then.”

 

Yixing slipped back into the room, knees weak.

 

_“Okay, okay, I’ve got a pulse there. It’s not strong, but it’s there.”_

 

He watched dazedly as Nurse Kim smoothed Baekhyun’s hair back with a gloved hand.

 

_“You’re doing good, buddy.”_

 

-/\\-

 

Later, Baekhyun came awake with a great deal of fuss, choking and fighting the vent and scaring the hell out of the monitors and the doctors.

 

About half an hour later, Baekhyun was propped up on a lot of pillows, eyes half closed in exhaustion.

 

“All that and they didn’t even bloody give me _water_ ,” He croaked.

 

“Well I’d think they were a bit busy saving your life so maybe it’s alright to forgive a slip of the mind?” Yixing said dryly.

 

“My throat’s _burning_.”

 

“Already pressed the call button for you, you whiny ass,” He murmured absently as he combed careful, gentle fingers repeatedly through Baekhyun’s hair. Baekhyun leaned into his touch, face relaxing.

 

“Ah, Mr. Byun, is there anywhere that’s hurting?”

 

“Yes, my throat. Can I have water please, pretty nurse _Unnie?_ ” Baekhyun smiled winningly at her.

 

She seemed at a loss.

 

“I’m not sure if you’re allowed any fluids right now, Mr. Byun. I would need to check with Doctor Kim.”

 

“Ugh it’s just water! Why can’t I have water? Lay-Hyungie, you tell them.” Baekhyun raised his hand, which was in Yixing’s, in mock agitation.

 

She glanced briefly at Baekhyun, then at their intertwined hands and her expression stiffened. Baekhyun followed her stare, and raised an eyebrow.

 

“I’ll-I’ll be back. Let me check with Doctor Kim first.”

 

The two of them watched her practically run out of the room and Yixing shook his head in fond exasperation.

 

“Whatever did you do that for? Now you’ve scared that nice nurse away, Hyunnie.”

 

“Bah, homophobes are _stupid_.” Baekhyun scoffed.

 

“ _Hyuuuuuung,_ I need kisses and hugs to feel better…”

 

Laughing, Yixing pushed Baekhyun’s kissy face away with two fingers on his forehead, “I’m not going to kiss _you,_ bad breath.”

 

-/\\-

 

There were days like these too, when it felt like the whole world was pressing on them, exerting its unimaginable weight on Baekhyun in particular. The tiniest things got on Baekhyun’s nerves. It was meant to be a Quiet Day, and it should have been apparent that Byun Senior and his wife were Not Welcome.

 

Whoever let them in should be _fired._

 

“How are you feeling today, Baekhyun-ah?” It was against the rules for her to smile like that, Baekhyun decided, like she was his mom or something.

 

He shifted impatiently against the pillows he was propped against, and reached up an errant hand to adjust the oxygen mask on his face for the umpteenth time.

 

A pale hand came to gently slap his hand away.

 

He turned to pout at Yixing, only to see him shake his head firmly, once.

 

Sighing, he turned back to meet the expectant face of his stepmother and shrugged.

 

She seemed surprised at his response and gave an awkward smile as she set a flask on the table by his bed.

 

“I made some soup,” She said cheerfully, “something to warm your stomach.”

 

Baekhyun waited patiently for his Hyung to inform her that he was on a strict diet and he couldn’t just drink any random soup like that.

 

_…Goodness was Lay-Hyungie never going to speak in their presence?_

 

He yanked the oxygen mask off his face in one swift motion before any of them could protest.

 

“You’d have to run that by my doctors first.”

 

“Watch your _tone_ ,” Byun Senior growled.

 

“I will speak as I wish, _old man_.”

 

“Why, you _little_ —”

 

“The baby’s coming along nicely, isn’t he?” Baekhyun jerked, startled.

 

Yixing continued, a dreamy smile on his face as he rubbed Mrs. Byun’s belly slowly, carefully, “Another three or four months, I’d expect? He can’t _wait_ to come to this world.”

 

“Hey, Lay-Hyung is talking to _you_.”

 

Mrs. Byun blinked, “Ah? Ah, yes, yes.”

 

Yixing’s eyes slid over to Byun Senior, in the corner, and his smile sharpened, slowly.

 

The moment went on, and would have continued if not for Nurse Kim poking his head in.

 

“Everyone alright in here?”

 

Yixing withdrew his hand as if burnt.

 

“Baekhyun seems to have gotten a little too excited—ah, _ah_ , you’re supposed to keep the mask on, Baekhyun-ah.”

 

He walked in briskly, fixing the mask back onto Baekhyun’s face, before giving him a small smile.

 

“I think Baekhyun’s feeling a little tired, eh? Maybe it’ll be good to visit again tomorrow.”

 

 _Bless Nurse Kim_ , Baekhyun thought as he relaxed back on his pillows, watching idly as the nurse kindly but firmly ushered the couple out.

Outside the room, the couple walked on quietly along the hallway, each lost in their own thoughts.

 

“Honey,” Baekhyun’s stepmother eventually started, a little haltingly, “Don’t you think…maybe we should hire a doctor for Baekhyun?”

 

“Doctor? Does he not have enough doctors, now?” Byun Senior retorted.

 

“I mean like a psychiatrist or something,” She bit her lip, “He’s talking to someone who _isn’t there_.”

 

Byun Senior’s eyes darkened.

 

“Don’t you worry, dear. I’ll take care of it.”

 

-/\\-

 

“But you don’t understand, _Hyung._ ”

 

“What don’t I understand, Soo?” Yixing’s voice was gentle.

 

Kyungsoo stopped pacing to give Yixing a swift, darting glance.

 

“You can’t _know_ how it feels to possibly wake up one day, with no control over your body,” He blurted out, and put his face in his hands helplessly.

 

The two of them came to a stop outside a hospital room, watching the middle-aged woman bustle around the room before Yixing gave Kyungsoo a little push.

 

“No matter what happens, your parents will always be by your side to help and support you, Soo. You have to know that. Come what may, they’ll always be family.”

 

Kyungsoo spun around abruptly, eyes glistening, “What if I wake up paralysed, what _then?_ ”

 

The two of them looked at the prone figure on the bed together, taking in the machines, the tubes and the large swath of bandages covering a good half of the body.

 

“A miserable sight isn’t it, Hyung?”

 

The nametag hung quietly but prominently on the door, proclaiming to anyone who passed by who the patient within was – _Do Kyungsoo._

 

-/\\-

 

“What is it now? Have I not completed my last task perfectly? Who else do you want me to kill for you?” Yixing leaned against one of the many urns in the cellar idly, looking disinterested and bored.

 

Byun Senior fingered the small urn in his hands pensively.

 

“Hurry up, I don’t have _all day_ , “ Yixing kicked over an urn in the corner in his frustration, and a malevolent hiss echoed.

 

He cleared his throat impatiently. The white film that was beginning to form immediately crept back into the urn.

 

“Come on, just spit it out. Hyunnie has an injection at four, I have to get ba—woah, woah, _woah._ ” Yixing held up both hands and began to back away cautiously.

 

Byun Senior held the small urn in one hand, and a lighter in the other.

 

The small _L_ on the front of the urn glistened in the firelight.

 

“You should put that down,” Yixing nudged the urn he knocked over discreetly. White mist curled around his ankles.

 

“You wouldn’t want to do that. My life, or afterlife, as you call it, is tied to this house.”

 

He gave a wry grin.

 

“If you light it, you’re going to bring the roof upon our heads, or rather _yours_ , since I’d be gone by then.”

 

“Stay away from my family!” Byun Senior snarled, a crazed gleam in his eyes.

 

“We could discuss that later. Put my urn down first, alright?” Yixing suggested reasonably. As soon as his urn left Byun Senior’s hands, he mouthed, “ _Go._ ”

 

The white mist left his ankles and extinguished the fire in a violent gust of wind.

 

They were left in darkness before Yixing snapped his fingers.

 

A green flame sprang to life on his fingertips, and he smiled.

 

_“You!”_

 

Yixing approached the visibly shaking man, a faint smile on his lips.

 

“Don’t come near me! I command you! L-Lay!”

 

He stopped mere inches from the cowering man, an amused expression on his face.

 

“Did you really think you would have been able to command me, now. The man who made me might have, had he lived. He had my true name after all. You? You’re a shadow of a man. Command me? You’re not half the man your son is.”

 

Byun Senior scrabbled frantically for a weapon, any weapon to defend himself, and threw an assortment of urns, seals, amulets at him, but besides irritating the ghost, did nothing to scare him away. Finally he was left with nothing but his bare hands, and he looked up at Yixing in pure, undisguised terror.

 

“Are you quite done?”

 

Yixing folded his arms and looked down at the middle-aged man expressionlessly.

 

“I don’t ask for you to be a decent person. I don’t ask for you to be a great father. I don’t _even_ ask for you to try and understand Baekhyun. I just want you to get him the heart he needs. It should be the _simplest_ thing. The Byun business is so big, how _hard_ can it be to get one heart which its heir, your _son_ needs?”

 

He sneered, “Oh yeah, I forget, you have a new family, a new son now. So Baekhyun doesn’t matter anymore, does he?”

 

“I don’t want my son inheriting this dirty legacy.”

 

“Oh? The same dirty legacy that fed you, clothed you, and made you the man you are today?”

 

“ _Don’t_ lecture me about gratefulness, you ungrateful evil spirit.”

 

Yixing waved a hand lazily.

 

“Yeah, yeah. I should be so grateful to you guys for killing me in my mother’s womb and making me the powerful evil spirit I am today. As if you guys don’t benefit from all the dirty work I do for you.”

 

Byun Senior looked away.

 

“I suppose I should,” Yixing mused, “I mean without you the dearest little boy in the world would not have been born. So thank you, Papa Byun.”

 

“What would an evil spirit like you know about love,” Byun Senior scoffed, glowering as he raised his face defiantly to meet Yixing’s.

 

He eventually stood up, watching him warily, “I don’t want anything from you. I don’t want my family to have anything to do with this dark side of the business. My wife and son will have a life free from spirits, curses and any of the dark shenanigans associated with the Byun name. I just want you to leave them alone.”

 

Yixing raised an eyebrow.

 

“And if you really love Baekhyun, you should let him go. Let him go before he suffers more.”

 

He shrugged.

 

“You should never make any decision for anyone else from your standpoint, old man.”

 

He snagged the little urn from the corner and made his way out.

 

“As always, it has been an utter waste of time, speaking to you.”

 

-/\\-

 

When he had arrived, Baekhyun had just received a new round of injections and he huffed and turned over at the sight of Yixing running in.

 

“What took you so _long_ ,” He said sulkily, “I kept on delaying it and telling Jongdae you’d come but you never came.”

 

_“Someone was busy talking to grouchy senseless old men and being a great kind soul setting other spirits free.”_

 

Yixing blushed.

 

“Hush, Min.”

 

Baekhyun made an exasperated noise.

 

“Not only is my boyfriend late and never here when I need him, but when he _does_ appear he’s talking to cats.”

 

The white cat leapt off Baekhyun’s lap, making his way towards Yixing.

 

“Sorry there, Min, Baekhyun doesn’t know what he’s saying. You’re no ordinary cat.”

 

“ _Of course I’m not.”_

 

Yixing sighed, “Now, Min, would you be a dear and go look after Jongin so he won’t come and disturb us? Please?”

 

_“First this brat now that new little ghost. Who am I, your babysitter?”_

 

Minseok left anyway, muttering about troublesome friends.

 

Baekhyun watched the whole exchange with great amusement, annoyance from enduring the injections alone all but forgotten.

 

“Now who’s this Jongin, Lay-Hyungie?”

 

“A new friend I’ve made, Hyunnie. He keeps following me around. I have absolutely no _clue_ why.”

 

Baekhyun smiled.

 

“Whatever am I to do with you? Whenever I’m not looking you’re off making weird friends and talking to cats.”

 

He reached over and gingerly grabbed a startled, but not unwelcoming Yixing to sit down on the bed.

 

“You are _my_ weirdo though, Lay-Hyungie.” Baekhyun murmured into Yixing’s chest.

 

Yixing closed his eyes as he felt the beginnings of a smile form on his lips.

 

“Of course, Hyunnie.”

 

-/\\-

 

_“I hope that Baekhyun will treat you well, Hyung.”_

 

“Thank you, Soo-ah,” Yixing whispered.

 

Inside the room, medical personnel bustled around as they prepared for the procedures that were to follow. Kyungsoo’s parents stood quietly in the corner, watching the proceedings with solemn eyes.

 

It was over in a moment.

 

_“Honey…”_

 

“I know, I know.” The husband held his wife tightly, his face remaining stubbornly still as he tried to hold his tears in.

 

Yixing bowed deeply in their direction, once, before leaving.

 

_“I’m so proud of him, you know?”_

 

His footsteps didn’t quite falter, but each step seemed heavier than the last.

 

-/\\-

 

“Baekhyun-ah.” Yixing leaned against the railing of the bed, careful to keep his face deliberately light and cheerful, “Baekhyun-ah.”

 

“ _If I don’t make it—_ ”

“Hey, _hey._ None of that, alright?”

 

Baekhyun swallowed.

 

“Lay-Hyungie.”

 

Yixing placed a finger on those pale lips.

 

“Hyunnie, I’ll be waiting for you outside, alright? Min's here too. We'll wait for you together.”

 

The cat swatted Yixing’s face with an unenthusiastic paw.

 

“ _Lay-Hyungie_ —”

 

“I left something very important with you,” Yixing’s eyes twinkled, “I’ll want it back, Mr. Byun. So you’d better not take too long in there, okay? It’s a promise.”

 

Baekhyun’s smile came out a little wobbly, but it was brave attempt, nonetheless.

 

“Promise.”

 

Their kiss tasted too much like goodbye.

 

-/\\-

 

Somewhere in the distance, the original recipient of Kyungsoo’s heart passed away silently, without much of a fuss.

 

Yixing relaxed, and staggered.

 

_“Xing!”_

 

Min leapt off his arms and landed on the ground, both tails swishing in the air agitatedly.

 

“I’m okay, Min.” Yixing stumbled a few more steps before finally allowing his knees to fold and he knelt on the floor for a moment, smiling weakly.

 

Min’s fur bristled and he moved in front of Yixing protectively.

 

“You think you’re very clever, huh.”

 

The Grim Reaper—what was his name again? Chanyon? Oh Chan _yeol_! Right.—had both arms folded, watching them with ill-disguised contempt.

 

“All men have their time,” he continued, “The fates of men are not meant to be messed with by the likes of _you_.”

 

“Min, step aside.”

 

The cat spirit huffed and stood his ground.

 

“Everyone should be given a fair chance, Mr. Reaper.”

 

“Nothing about this is _fair_ , ghost. The girl who has just passed away, her name is before Byun Baekhyun’s on the recipient list. Do Kyungsoo’s heart was supposed to go to her. Her life is on your head.”

 

Yixing gave a half-hearted shrug.

 

“She wouldn’t have had a chance anyway if it wasn’t for Soo. And Soo’s my friend.”

 

The Reaper’s eyes flashed dangerously.

 

“Yeah, and you tricked your _friend_.”

 

Yixing laughed.

 

“Soo’s not an idiot, Mr. Reaper. That’s the problem with all of your kind. You underestimate people. Soo knew what this was all about, and he agreed.”

 

Chanyeol glowered darkly, “You would justify your deeds like this, like all of your _kind_ would.”

 

“Didn’t justify anything, _Chanyeol._ It is what it is. What’s done is done. Both Soo's and that girl’s souls have been reaped. What would you do now? Reap Baekhyun’s soul? With my core in him?”

 

Yixing sat back, relaxing, “Would you really create an evil spirit just for the sake of reaping someone according to your list?”

 

Somehow the Grim Reaper had the audacity to show pity on his face.

 

“Don’t look at me like _that_ ,” Yixing snarled as the Reaper vanished.

 

Min stalked over to his side, a disapproving frown on his face.

 

“No wonder you’re like this, you _fool,_ ” he admonished, “Not once in my life have I seen a spirit last without his core. And I’ve lived for a long time.”

 

“You could have been free.”

 

Yixing smiled mirthlessly, scrutinising his hands as if fascinated with the way they were turning translucent at the fingertips.

 

“But I don’t want it, Min.”

 

-/\\-

 

Baekhyun had a long, long dream.

 

In that dream they were both children, and for the strangest reason, his Hyung was _half in, half_ out of his playroom ceiling, upside-down and smiling widely at him.

 

 _Won’t you play with me,_ he said in broken Korean, and his voice wasn’t dissimilar to that of a child’s, bright and innocent.

 

Baekhyun backed away slowly, staring.

 

Then the scene changed. The two of them were staring at a tall, handsome man from behind the banister.

 

 _“Ah, Sehunnie,”_ The child that looked like his Lay-Hyung was saying dreamily, an almost smile on his lips, “ _He gave off the most delicious feelings. So dark, so angry, so sad. I’d get so full just by staying beside him.”_

 

Uncle Sehun never liked visiting them very much, Baekhyun recalled, shivering.

 

Then a pair of cool, dry hands came up from behind to cover his eyes.

 

“I don’t want your last memory of me to be _this_ ,” That familiar voice sounded so sad.

 

Baekhyun flinched.

 

“Hyunnie, I want you to know that you would never have to be afraid of _me_ , alright?” Baekhyun never wanted to hear his favourite person plead like this.

 

A soft laugh sounded, equal parts resigned and equal parts proud.

 

“After all, you know my real name,” his voice tickled Baekhyun’s ear, “anytime…anytime you’re afraid, just speak my name.”

 

The hands fell away, and the colours of their background slowly faded away to an endless span of white.

 

“Lay-Hyungie,” he breathed, and spun around. There was nothing. He was alone.

 

_“I don’t want you to see me like this.”_

 

“Hyung, _please_ ,” He blinked away panicked tears, “Please!”

 

A hand ran gently through his hair and he felt rather than saw someone gently kiss his tears away.

 

_“You’ve got to be strong, silly. I’ve got to go now.”_

 

"D—"

 

_"I love you."_

 

“No, don’t go— _Yixing!_ ”

 

His eyes snapped open to see a white cat sitting primly on his bed.

 

“I see you’ve finally decided to join the land of the living, “ Min said, tail reaching to hook a glass of water from the table by the hospital bed. He held it to Baekhyun's lips and let him drink his fill before setting the glass back onto the table.

 

"I...I—"

 

“It’s not the first time you regained consciousness, but this is the first time you’ve come fully awake,” Min remarked, “sure took your own sweet time.”

 

“Y-You can talk.”

 

“Yes I can,” Min agreed.

 

“You can talk!” Baekhyun repeated dumbly.

 

“Heard you the first time, child,” Min said severely.

 

Baekhyun looked around the room, frantic.

 

“Min, where’s Yixing?”

 

The cat spirit frowned in irritation, “You have no right to call me that. Call me Xiumin.”

 

“ _Xiumin,_ where’s Yixing?”

 

Min sighed and dug around the blankets, eventually revealing a sleepy ball of white fluff.

 

“He wouldn’t go away to rest, or anything. Only wanted to stay near you all these time.”

 

Baekhyun looked at the tiny white kitten placed on his chest intently, realization gradually dawning on his face.

 

“Lay…Hyungie…?” He choked.

 

“Don’t you start crying, ah, ah,” Min warned, “I sacrificed a tail for this. A thousand years, gone like that.”

 

He sniffed, “The least the two of you could do is to be grateful.”

 

The kitten gave a tentative meow.

 

And Baekhyun was burying his face into the kitten’s fur, finally allowing tears to fall.

 

Min shook his head, slinking off to give them some privacy.

 

_“Humans, whether dead or alive, are nothing but trouble.”_

 

-/\\-

 

The skies were clear and bright the day Baekhyun was discharged from the hospital.

 

With each step he was leaving it behind, the memories, the good and the bad.

 

Off to a new start.

 

The white kitten nestled in the hollow of his neck started to stretch, and hit his chin. The little thing gave the most mournful meow.

 

Baekhyun bent down, allowing the kitten to jump to the floor before he knelt to look deeply into those familiar black eyes. Something transpired in those precious moments. His mouth turned up at the corners.

 

“가자.” *

 

 

 

 

 

 

前半生你为我遮风挡雨，后半生就让我来守护你。**

 

_I’ll write you **our** happy ending._

_  
_

**_Fin._ **

**Author's Note:**

> * “Let’s go.”  
> ** For the first half of our lives you stood before me and took the brunt of it all—for this remaining half, let me guard you, protect you and let nothing harm you.
> 
>  
> 
> A/N: The Chinese sentence came to me as I was writing this fic and wouldn't go away so I HAD to include it! When I was translating it to English some of the nuances were lost...so I gave an equivalent instead of the exact translation, hope that made sense haha. So it isn't an exact translation..so sorry for that! 
> 
> Comments would be greatly appreciated! ♥
> 
>  
> 
> ~~~~  
> will check for typos when I'm more awake...  
> 


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